The Musee d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway station, the Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts edifice built between 1898 and 1900. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces by such painters such as Monet, Degas, Renoir, and Cezanne. Many of these works were held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume prior to the museum's opening in 1986.

The museum building was originally a railway station, Gare d'Orsay, constructed for the Chemin de Fer de Paris a Orleans and finished in time for the 1900 Exposition Universelle to the design of three architects: Lucien Magne, Emile Benard and Victor Laloux. It was the terminus for the railways of southwestern France until 1939.

By 1939 the station's short platforms had become unsuitable for the longer trains that had come to be used for mainline services. After 1939 it was used for suburban services and part of it became a mailing center during World War II. It was then used as a set for several films, such as Kafka's The Trial adapted by Orson Welles, and as a haven for the Renaud-Barrault Theatre Company and for auctioneers, while the Hotel Drouot was being rebuilt. The station's hotel closed on 1 January 1973.

In 1977 the French Government decided to convert the station to a museum. ACT Architecture (Renaud Bardon, Pierre Colboc and Jean-Paul Philippon) were the designers and the construction work was carried by Bouygues. The Italian architect Gae Aulenti oversaw the design of the conversion from 1980 to 1986.

The interior of the museum.The work involved creating 20,000 sq. m. of new floorspace on four floors. The new museum was opened by President Francois Mitterrand on 1 December 1986.

Major painters and works representedGustave Courbet — The Artist's Studio, Young Man Sitting, L'Origine du monde Jean-Francois Millet — Spring, The Gleaners Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot — A Morning. The Dance of the Nymphs Alexandre Cabanel — The Birth of Venus, The Death of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Jean-Leon Gerome — Portrait of the baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild, Reception of Conde in Versailles, La Comtesse de Keller Pierre Puvis de Chavannes — Young Girls by the Seaside, The Young Mother also known as Charity, View on the Chateau de Versailles and the Orangerie Eugene Boudin — Trouville Beach Camille Pissarro — White Frost Edouard Manet — Olympia, The Balcony, Berthe Morisot With a Bouquet of Violets, The Luncheon on the Grass Edgar Degas — The Parade, also known as Race Horses in front of the Tribunes, The Bellelli Family, The Tub, Portrait of Edouard Manet, Portraits, At the Stock Exchange, L’Absinthe Paul Cezanne — Apples and Oranges Claude Monet — The Saint-Lazare Station, The Rue Montorgueil in Paris. Celebration of June 30, 1878, Wind Effect, Series of The Poplars, Rouen Cathedral. Harmony in Blue, Blue Water Lilies Odilon Redon — Caliban Pierre-Auguste Renoir — Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre Jules Desbois — Destitution Ferdinand Hodler — Der Holzfaller (The Woodcutter) Gustave Caillebotte — The Floor Planers Edouard Detaille — The Dream Brian Wright — "The Man" Vincent van Gogh — Self Portrait,The Siesta, The Church at Auvers, View from the Chevet, The Italian Woman, Starry Night Over the Rhone, Portrait of Dr. Gachet Eugene Jansson — Proletarian Lodgings Paul Signac — Women at the Well Felix Vallotton — Misia at Her Dressing Table Georges-Pierre Seurat — The Circus Pierre Bonnard — The Chequered Blouse Andre Devambez — The Charge Paul Serusier — The Talisman, the Aven River at the Bois d'Amour Maurice Denis — Portrait of the Artist Aged Eighteen, Princess Maleine's Minuet or Marthe Playing the Piano, The Green Trees or Beech Trees in Kerduel, October Night (panel for the decoration of a girl's room) Andre Derain — Charing Cross Bridge, also known as Westminster Bridge James McNeill Whistler — Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother, also known as Whistler's Mother William Adolphe Bouguereau — The Birth of Venus Cecilia Beaux – Sita and Sarita (Jeune Fille au Chat)